Vice Media expands HBO partnership with daily news, weekly series

LOS ANGELES: Vice Media, known for its coverage of current affairs for the Millennial generation, will expand its partnership with Time Warner Inc’s premium cable network HBO to include daily newscasts and more weekly series and specials, the network said on Thursday.

Vice’s half-hour show on weekdays will present news reports from journalists in bureaus around the world, the first time HBO has offered a daily newscast. The weekly Vice series will expand from 14 to 35 shows a year, exploring current issues and unrest around the world.

Vice will also produce 32 specials over four years with in-depth documentary-style reporting on larger issues, along the lines of recent editions focusing on cancer and climate change.

“This deal, simply put, allows Vice the freedom to go after any story, anywhere we find it, and to do so with complete independence,” Vice founder and CEO Shane Smith said in a statement.

Started in 1994 as a Montreal punk magazine, Vice has branched into a global multimedia brand with print, television and online content as well as a record label and book publishing.

It won an Emmy award last year for outstanding informational series or special, and secured a US$500 million investment from Silicon Valley’s Technology Crossover Ventures and A&E Networks.

In October, the company teamed up with Rogers Communications Inc to build a studio in Toronto.